Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new Nation,conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now,we are engaged in a great Civil War,testing whether that Nation,or any nation so conceived and so dedicated,can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But,in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate,we cannot hallow this ground.The brave men,living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here,but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us,the living,rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not died in vain;that this Nation. under God,shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the People, by the People,and for the People,shall not perish from the earth.

在林肯当选美国总统后，南方各州相继宣布脱离联邦，内战爆发。1863年7月3日，联邦军在宾西法尼亚州的葛底斯堡与南军激战，伤亡2万余人。为纪念阵亡将士，同年11月在葛底斯堡建起了国家公墓。本篇是林肯在公基落成典礼上的致辞，虽不足5分钟，却是流传千古的佳作。

87年前，我们的先辈们在这块大陆上创建了一个新的国家，它奉行一切人生而平等的原则。现在我们正从事一场伟大的内战，以考验这个国家，或者任何一个孕育于自由和奉行上述原则的国家是否能够长久存在下去。我们聚集在这个伟大的战场上。烈士们为这个国家的生存而献出了自己的生命，我们聚集在这里，是要把这战场的一部分奉献给他们作为最后的安息地。我这样做是完全应该而且是非常恰当的。

但是，从广义上来说，我们不能奉献，不能圣化，更不能神化这块土地。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇士们，无论活着的或已死去的，已经将这块土地圣化了，这远远不是我们微薄之力所能增减的。今天我们在这里所说的话，全世界都不会太注意，也不会长久地记住，但那些勇士们在这里的所作所为，全世界都会永远记得。换言之，我们这些依然活着的人，应该把自己奉献于那些勇士们已经向前推进但尚未完成的崇高事业。我们应该在这里把自己奉献于仍然摆在我们面前的伟大任务――我们要从那些光荣牺牲的勇士身上汲取更多的奉献精神，来完成他们投入毕生精力并为之献身的事业；我们要在这里下定决心，不能让那些勇士们白白牺牲；我们要使我们的祖国在上帝的保佑下得到自由的新生，要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。